“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
This story is easily my favorite story EVER. Not just favorite parable, favorite passage of Scripture, but favorite story. I like it more than I like the Bourne series, the 30 Days of Night movie, or any other story I have ever heard/seen.
There are many reasons I love this story. One is the intense, one-way pursuit of that which is lost. I understand salvation to be Christ chasing after us and finding us. Another thing I love about the story is his response to his finding of that which is lost. He (in joy!) puts in on his shoulders and carries it home. A farmer once told me that when you find a lost sheep, you break its legs so that it cannot run away again, and then sling it over your neck and carry it back to the flock. What a cool picture of Christ’s pursuit, rescue, and even loving discipline. Lastly, I love the brutal attack against self-righteousness that Jesus throws in at the end of the parable. I am reminded that God wants honesty and humbleness and a dependency on the Cross from us, his little lost (kind of dumb) sheep.
I’ll be preaching on this story on August 2nd and am really excited about it! What are your thoughts? What is your favorite parable from the lips of Jesus?
Love it! This idea of humbling thy self is haunting me like a good dream these days. Maybe I should listen and work harder to not work so hard and lean on His cross a little more. One of my favorites is the man that built his house on the rock. Matt 7:24-27. I dig it for many reasons, but on a sentimental note, the big kid came home from Pine Cove the summer he was 8 and had it memorized and could tell me EXACTLY what it meant! That was some fine witnessing at PC that summer!! He & I were both baptized the following October!
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